The analogy and the connotation of planting a tree is engulfed and embedded with a universal power in each and every culture and society on the planet earth, and it is a path every man, woman and child should take part in generating elucidations for the environmental crisis.
 Michelle Dilhara
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Alfred Joyce Kilmer, an American poet who was also considered to be one of the last poets of the romantic era, remarked, “I love trees. I think I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree”.
Michelle Dilhara, a professionally competent and charming actress is a distinct and unmistakable manifestation of Kilmer’s adoring love for trees. Apart from being a celebrity in the island with an avid and exuberant passion for the green environment, Michelle simultaneously is a role-model who inspires and propels the young and the old alike for their inclination to promote eco-friendly environments that have already become a sine-qua-non phenomenon at a time where the subject of ecological environments have taken the centre stage across the globe.
Dilhara, the youthful environmental activist, is the Earth Day Ambassador to Sri Lanka. With its roots running back to the year 1970, Earth Day is a distinguished organisation committed for the protection of the world environment and the ecosystems, among many other vast of environmental aspirations, is extensively known as the largest recruiter to the environmental movement, collaboratively working with more than 150,000 partners in over 192 countries that is geared and motivated to drive positive action for the planet earth.
Dilhara, in her capacity as the Earth Day Ambassador to Sri Lanka, has so far initiated more than 250 climate change and net-zero projects. Michelle is frequently invited as a guest lecturer in public universities in Sri Lanka during their programmes conducted with direct reference to environmental protection where she has already become a synonym for an eco-friendly environment.
She has so far delivered guest lectures in ten major national universities in Sri Lanka which include, Rajarata, Sabaragamuwa, Uwa-Wellassa, Peradeniya, Sri Jayewardenepura, Moratuwa, Colombo and Jaffna Universities. Michelle meanwhile plays a momentous and cogent role in meliorating the enthusiasm and fascination of the university students towards the protection of environment, which is definitely one of the hugely felt necessities of the hour.
Wayamba University
This time, the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka was Michelle’s destination, where ‘Tree for Life’, a climate action-oriented society was initiated. ‘Tree for Life’ has its direct relevance to the SDG-13 (Sustainable Development Goal), which envisages on initiating pressing and compelling actions in order to battle, fight and combat the climate change and its deleterious and adverse impacts. The United Nations General Assembly adopted 17 SDGs in 2015, which are expected to be achieved by the year 2030.
‘Tree for Life’ is motivated by its palpable and bona fide goal of reforesting every land area which has already been vulnerable to deforestation up to the accepted level by the year 2030. Albeit climate change, global warming, as well as that of the protests, launched against the drastic repercussions of the environmental degradation, have not been strange phenomena from time immemorial, addressing the dire and extreme consequences of those phenomena have currently become a gravely felt requirement that cannot be and must not be scorned and overlooked: it has become a part and parcel of the lives of each and every human being.
Climate change is indisputably the biggest threat and hazard to humankind. The global temperature is rising up at a rate that is undoubtedly alarming and unprecedented: it paves the way for severe droughts, and forest fires while having an enormous negative impact on the health of the humans. A long year of droughts, flood and famine are inevitable, and it is not rather dramatic to declare that climate is not changed by a prayer, spell, charm, dance or libation. The direct risks and the negative consequences of climate change are conspicuous and glaring. They are harsh and vicious.
Agriculture and Plantation
The ‘Tree for Life’ project is a brainchild of Thakshila Wijesinghe, a third-year undergraduate specialising in Biotechnology of the faculty of Agriculture and Plantation Management of the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka.
Thakshila plays two roles: a university coordinator and an ambassador of the G17 University ambassador’s consortium, where the latter is a youth-led fellowship program that promotes UN sustainable development goals. Thakshila and her colleagues are resolute and steadfast in their endeavour of advocating, bolstering and implementing the UN sustainable development goal-13, that includes tree planting events, smart agriculture techniques, sessions on community awareness, as well as the other relevant projects on carbon mitigation.
‘Tree for Life’ by virtue of its coined name itself centrally focuses its attention to an overwhelming and abundance of fondness and proclivity towards the protection of the environment is undoubtedly a milestone in the history of the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka. ‘Tree for Life’s’ Harshi Herath and Iresha Perera in their capacities as the vice president and the secretary respectively augment and enhance its potential into further heights.
The ‘Tree for Life’ project thrives under the able guidance of Treasurer Dr Lakmali. The ‘Tree for Life’, even at the very outset has got its own unique characteristics that drive it towards the path of aggrandizing the sustainable development goals.
The society invites the enthusiastic and fervent volunteers to join hand with them in their endeavour of paving the way towards the path of sustainable development while being rather dear and near to the environment that urges not stepmotherly but motherly treatment.
 The Tree of Life team
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The ‘Tree for Life’ is deemed and determined to increase the forest cover of Sri Lanka to the expected level by the year 2030 while aiding and shielding the government to achieve sustainable development goals by 2030.
Expanding its horizon into further heights, notably to the other universities and the schools in the island, remains as one of their central objectives. ‘Tree for Life’ is of the strong belief that the sense of collaboration, promoted among the students of every university is of paramount significance that is able to have an enormously greater impact on an obvious and accessible achievement of a common goal.
Green Psyche Society
In that light, as a form of an early step, ‘Tree for Life’ has collaborated and concurred with the Green Psyche Society of the faculty of Livestock Fisheries and Nutrition and the Nature Team of the faculty of Agriculture and Plantation Management of the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka. ‘Tree For Life’ is committed to organise Tree planting events whereby it is expected to increase the number of plants, grown annually.
‘Tree For Life’ society noted its induction with a symbolic tree planting event held on the 28th November 2022. Senior Prof. Udith K Jayasinghe, Vice Chancellor of the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka, Prof. Jagath Edirisinghe, Dean of the faculty of Agriculture and Plantation Management, Prof. C.V.L. Jayasinghe, Dean of the faculty of Livestock Fisheries and Nutrition, Miss. Michelle Dilhara, Environmentalist and Celebrity, Mr. Kekulandara, District Forest Officer, Kurunegala, graced the occasion of the induction of the society as the chief guests. Prof. Kapila Yakandawala, Dr Lakmali, Prof. Bandara Gajanayaka, Dr Pieris, Dr Gimhani Dikkumbura and Dr Kanchana Weerasinghe were the other guests, attended at the event.
“I am rather glad that ‘Tree for Life’ is really keen on reforestation and their sincere concern and efforts taken in that endeavour are absolutely remarkable and praiseworthy. In my capacity as the Earth Day Ambassador to Sri Lanka, I am always excited to collaborate with university students who have got an amazing potential in extending their support for a green planet.
Whenever I attend to the events in the calibre of ‘Tree for Life’, notably in universities, I, together with the undergraduates, insist but resist any form of malice and animality against the beauty of nature and the planet earth, as it would make us to lose ourselves on a planet where the human survival would be challenging than ever before”, Michelle concluded.